KINGSTON, N.Y. -- The Ulster County Community College Board of Trustees has established a capital reserve fund for the nearly $6 million that will be needed to turn Sophie Finn Elementary School in Midtown Kingston into a satellite campus of UCCC, the college president said on Friday.

Donald Katt said most of the money will come from grants and through the college no longer spending $317,000 per year to lease classroom space from the county at the Business Resource Center in the town of Ulster.

Grants for the project include $1.5 million from the Empire State Development Corp. and $500,000 from the Dyson Foundation.

The Kingston school board this week approved selling the Sophie Finn building, which will cease being an elementary school in June, to Ulster County for $300,000, but school district voters still most approve the transaction.

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"The voters will decide on May 21 whether the school district should sell the building to the county," Katt said. "We believe the voters will see all the positives related to this project."

The establishment of the UCCC capital reserve fund also needs final approval, in this case from the county Legislature. That vote is expected in May.

All approvals being granted "allows us to bring in the SUNY Construction Fund in as an equal partner in meeting the cost of renovation and the parking lot at Sophie Finn," Katt said.

"We're hoping ... the actual construction can actually start in the early part of July," he added. "We're shooting to have everything done and move from the BRC on Ulster Avenue to (Sophie Finn) ... right before the beginning of the second semester, in January 2014."

Sophie Finn is on Mary's Avenue in Kingston, on land behind Kingston High School and across the street from Benedictine Hospital.

"The location, being next to (Kingston High School), is a part of this project that is very exciting to me," Katt said. "It's going to be almost like a catalyst to do joint programming. The college could very easily offer additional honors classes or accelerated courses after school and hopefully attract people who may have left the public school system to come back."

A feasibility study about renovating the Sophie Finn building states costs would include:

o $2.72 million for renovation of four classrooms.

o $704,000 for parking lot and road improvements.

o $460,000 for improvements to the entrance.

o $270,000 for windows.

o $100,000 for an elevator.

o $75,000 for a sprinkler system.

o $60,000 for sidewalks.

o $40,000 for lighting.

Katt noted that the college will be moving into a smaller space than it currently leases at the Business Resource Center.

"I think we actually lose two classrooms, but we think we can manage that (with) proper scheduling of courses," he said.

Katt said UCCC currently offers 40 to 50 courses and 100 non-credit courses at the Business Resource Center.